Johnny Goldtimbers, 1st Duke of Newcastle
| awards = }} Johann-Lukas Ludwig Julius Divi Filius Cæsar Octavianus Augustus Dieudonné Themistocles El Helegido Del Mar Goldtimbers (Thomas Pelham-Holles), 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, KG, GMB, KT, PC, FRS (born 21 July 1693 ''(Official British Record)) is a British Whig statesman, whose official life extends throughout the Whig supremacy of the first half of the 18th century. He is the current Prime Minister of Great Britain under George II and Leader of the House of Lords. He is commonly known as the Duke of Newcastle or Edinburgh. He is the first Prime Minister from Scotland following the Acts of Union in 1707. ''"I shall not… think the demands of the people a rule of conduct, nor shall I ever fear to incur their resentment in the prosecution of their interest. I shall never flatter their passions to obtain their favour, or gratify their revenge for fear of their contempt" - Lord Newcastle Early life and Reign over France Little was known as to how John Goldtimbers was previously the French King Louis XIV. It was only recently during the War of Austrian Succession that this was uncovered when Louis XIV's offspring declared him to be their father, effectively making him the head of the House of Bourbon. Contemporary and official records state the following in regards to the life of Louis XIV; Louis XIV born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné (Louis the God-given)and bore the traditional title of French heirs apparent: Dauphin. At the time of his birth, his parents had been married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631. Leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. He succeeded his father on May 14, 1643. At the age of four years and eight months, he was, according to the laws of the kingdom, not only the master but the owner of the bodies and property of 19 million subjects. Although he was saluted as “a visible divinity,” he was, nonetheless, a neglected child given over to the care of servants. He once narrowly escaped drowning in a pond because no one was watching him. Anne of Austria, who was to blame for this negligence, inspired him with a lasting fear of “crimes committed against God.” Louis was nine years old when the nobles and the Paris Parlement (a powerful law court), driven by hatred of the prime minister Jules Cardinal Mazarin, rose against the crown in 1648. This marked the beginning of the long civil war known as the Fronde, in the course of which Louis suffered poverty, misfortune, fear, humiliation, cold, and hunger. These trials shaped the future character, behaviour, and mode of thought of the young king. He would never forgive either Paris, the nobles, or the common people. In 1653 Mazarin was victorious over the rebels and then proceeded to construct an extraordinary administrative apparatus with Louis as his pupil. The young king also acquired Mazarin’s partiality for the arts, elegance, and display. Although he had been proclaimed of age, the king did not dream of disputing the cardinal’s absolute power. The war begun in 1635 between France and Spain was then entering its last phase. The outcome of the war would transfer European hegemony from the Habsburgs to the Bourbons. A French king had to be a soldier, and so Louis served his apprenticeship on the battlefield. In 1658 Louis faced the great conflict between love and duty, a familiar one for princes of that period. He struggled with himself for two years over his love for Mazarin’s niece, Marie Mancini. He finally submitted to the exigencies of politics and in 1660 married Marie-Thérèse of Austria, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain, in order to ratify peace between their two countries. Mazarin died on March 9, 1661. The dramatic blow came on March 10. The king informed his astonished ministers that he intended to assume all responsibility for ruling the kingdom. This had not occurred since the reign of Henry IV. It cannot be overemphasized that Louis XIV’s action was not in accordance with tradition; his concept of a dictatorship by divine right was his own. In genuine faith, Louis viewed himself as God’s representative on earth and considered all disobedience and rebellion to be sinful. From this conviction he gained not only a dangerous feeling of infallibility but also considerable serenity and moderation. He was backed up first by the great ministers Jean-Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Louvois, and Hugues de Lionne, among whom he fostered dissension, and later by men of lesser capacity. For 54 years Louis devoted himself to his task eight hours a day; not the smallest detail escaped his attention. He wanted to control everything from court etiquette to troop movements, from road building to theological disputes. He succeeded because he faithfully reflected the mood of a France overflowing with youth and vigour and enamoured of grandeur. Despite the use of pensions and punishments, the monarchy had been unable to subdue the nobles, who had started 11 civil wars in 40 years. Louis lured them to his court, corrupted them with gambling, exhausted them with dissipation, and made their destinies dependent on their capacity to please him. Etiquette became a means of governing. From that time, the nobility ceased to be an important factor in French politics, which in some respects weakened the nation. Louis’s great fortune was in having among his subjects an extraordinary group of men in every area of activity. He knew well how to make use of them. He was the protector of writers, notably Molière and Jean Racine, whom he ordered to sing his praises, and he imposed his own visions of beauty and nature on artists. France’s appearance and way of life were changed; the great towns underwent a metamorphosis, the landscape was altered, and monuments arose everywhere. The king energetically devoted himself to building new residences. Little remains of his splendid palaces at Saint-Germain and Marly, but Versailles—cursed as extravagant even as it was under construction and accused of having ruined the nation—still stands. Versailles was approximately the price of a modern airport; it was an object of universal admiration and enhanced French prestige. All the power of the government was brought to bear in the construction of Versailles. Louis XIV was not wrong, as some have claimed, to remove himself from unhealthful and tumultuous Paris, but he erred in breaking with the wandering tradition of his ancestors. The monarchy became increasingly isolated from the people and thereby assumed a decidedly mythical quality. While Louis watched his buildings going up, Colbert, who supervised the construction, obtained from him the means to carry out an economic revolution aimed at making France economically self-sufficient while maximizing exports. Manufacturers, the navy and merchant marine, a modern police organization, roads, ports, and canals all emerged at about the same time. Louis attended to every detail, while at the same time giving dazzling entertainment and carrying on a tumultuous love affair with Louise de La Vallière. In 1667 he invaded the Spanish Netherlands, which he regarded as his wife’s inheritance, thus beginning a series of wars that lasted for a good part of his reign. Louis himself on his deathbed said, “I have loved war too much,” but his subjects, who often complained of his prudence and moderation, would not have understood had he not used force to strengthen the frontiers of France. After a brilliant campaign, the king had to retreat (1668) in the face of English and especially Dutch pressure. He never forgave the Dutch and swore to destroy their Protestant mercantile republic. To this end he allied himself with his cousin Charles II of England and invaded the Netherlands in 1672. The long war that ensued ended in 1678, in the first treaty of Nijmegen with Louis triumphant. The Sun King was at his zenith. Almost alone he had defeated a formidable coalition (Spain and the Holy Roman emperor had joined the Dutch against him) and dictated terms to the enemy. He had extended the frontier of France in the north by annexing part of Flanders and in the east by seizing Lorraine and Franche-Comté. His fleet equaled those of England and Holland. Paris called him “the Great.” In his court he was an object of adoration, and as he approached age 40 he could view himself as far surpassing all other men. In 1682 the seat of government was transferred to Versailles. The following year marked a turning point in the life and reign of Louis XIV. The queen died, and the king secretly married Mme de Maintenon, who imperceptibly gained in political influence. He remained devoted to her; even at age 70 she was being exhorted by her confessor to continue to fulfill her conjugal duties, according to letters still extant. Colbert also died, leaving the way free for the bellicose Louvois. The repulse of a Turkish invasion of his Austrian domains left the emperor free to oppose France in the west. In 1688–89 the fall of the Stuarts and William of Orange’s accession to the throne of England further reversed the situation to the detriment of France. Revocation Of The Edict Of Nantes To his traditional enemies Louis now added the entire Protestant world. His mother had inculcated in him a narrow and simplistic religion, and he understood nothing of the Reformation. He viewed French Protestants as potential rebels. After having tried to convert them by force, he revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had guaranteed their freedom of worship, in 1685. The revocation, which was accompanied by a pitiless persecution, drove many artisans from France and caused endless misfortune. Thus began the decline. England, the Dutch, and the emperor united in the Grand Alliance to resist Louis’s expansionism. The resulting war lasted from 1688 to 1697. Despite many victories, Louis gave up part of his territorial acquisitions when he signed the Treaty of Rijswijk, for which the public judged him harshly. He reconciled himself to another painful sacrifice when he recognized William of Orange as William III of England, in violation of his belief in the divine right of the Stuart king James II to William’s throne. Three years later, in 1700, Charles II, the last Habsburg king of Spain, died, bequeathing his kingdoms to Louis’s grandson, Philip of Anjou (Philip V). Louis, who desired nothing more than peace, hesitated but finally accepted the inheritance. He has been strongly criticized for his decision, but he had no alternative. With England against him, he had to try to prevent Spain from falling into the hands of the equally hostile Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, who disputed Philip’s claim. Final Years In the War of the Spanish Succession the anti-French alliance was reactivated by William of Orange before his death. The disasters of the war were so great that, in 1709, France came close to losing all the advantages gained over the preceding century. Private griefs were added to Louis’s public calamities. Almost simultaneously he lost his son, the grand dauphin; two of his grandsons, the dukes de Bourgogne and Berry; his great grandson, the duke de Bretagne; and his granddaughter-in-law, the duchess de Bourgogne, who had been the consolation of his declining years. An excess of flattery from within and an excess of malediction from without had created an artificial image of the king. He was viewed as an idol who would collapse under the blows of ill fortune, but the opposite occurred. Having first been the embodiment of a triumphant nation, Louis surpassed himself by bearing his own suffering and that of his people with unceasing resolution. Finally, a palace revolution in London, bringing the pacific Tories to power, and a French victory over the imperial forces at the Battle of Denain combined to end the war. The Treaties of Utrecht, and of Rastatt and Baden, signed in 1713–14, cost France its hegemony but left its territory intact. It retained its recent conquests in Flanders and on the Rhine, which were so much in the order of things that neither later defeats nor revolutions would cause it to lose them. Louis XIV died in 1715, at age 77. His body was borne, amid the jeers of the populace, to the Saint-Denis basilica. His heir, attested in his will was to be his five-year-old child, Louis XV (Jack Bluehawk) who was not expected to live. Louis had distrusted his nephew, the duke d’Orléans, and wanted to leave actual power in the hands of the Duke du Maine, his son by Madame de Montespan. Unfortunately, after his death, the Duke du Maine had little interest in European politics, preferring military service in the West Indies. The duke d’Orléans ruled as regent for only a short few years before he allowed his step-aunt to return to court despite her apparent death, who quickly regained influence. Maria Theresa under the name Marie Antoinette installed her daughter by Louis, Grace of Anemois to become de-facto regent and later Queen of France. Louis XV would only retake power after Grace's sudden illness and necessary retirement from public life. England Upon his apparent death in France, the once great French king became a humble English citizen, taking up a history and heritage of both an Englishman and a Scot. Through his connections he fabricated a whole new life and entered British society as Thomas Pelham-Holles, more commonly known as Johnathan Goldtimbers. He increasingly identified with Whig politics, like his fictional father and uncle – but whereas they had been moderate in their views, he grew increasingly more partisan and militant in his views. Britain at the time was very divided between Whigs who favoured the succession of George of Hanover after Queen Anne's death and Tories who supported the return of the Jacobite James Stuart, known later as the 'old pretender'. This issue dominated British politics during the last few years of Queen Anne's reign, leading up to her death in 1714 – and had a profound impact on the future career of the young Duke of Newcastle. He joined the Hannover Club and the Kit Kat Club, both leading centres of Whig thinking and organisation. Newcastle House in London became his premier residence. Early political career His services were too great to be neglected by the new Hanoverian King, and in according to record in 1714 he was created Earl of Clare, and in 1715 (the same year of his apparent death) Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne two titles previously held by his late uncle John Holles. He also became Lord-Lieutenant of the Counties of Middlesex and Nottingham and a Knight of the Garter. In his new position he was in charge of suppressing Jacobitism in the counties under his control. In Middlesex he arrested and questioned eight hundred people, and then drew up a Voluntary Defence Association to defend the county. Early in 1715, Newcastle began a military career. In December, he obtained a captaincy in a regiment of foot he was raised for the purpose of expelling the Jacobites from England. This regiment was later sent to India following his employment in the East India Company. During 1715 he became involved in a riot that ended with two men being killed, and Newcastle fleeing along rooftops. The succession of George I was secured in late 1715 by the defeat of a Jacobite army at the Battle of Preston where his regiment saw action and the subsequent flight of the Old Pretender. Newcastle had abandoned his original plan to place a Catholic on the English and had decided to place a Catholic at the head of the English government. The Catholic would be himself, but it would acclaimed by the public that Newcastle would be "Catholic" in name only and uphold many protestant ideals which would later help him bridge the religious schism that had plagued the British isles for centuries. The victory of the Hanoverians over the Jacobites marked the beginning of the Whig Ascendancy which lasted for much of the 18th century. Because the Tory opposition had been tainted, in the eyes of George I, by their support of the Jacobite pretenders, he did not trust them, and drew all his ministers and officials from the Whig faction. Following their victory, the Whigs split with one group forming the government for George I, while the other dissident Whigs became the effective opposition in Parliament. After a period of political manoeuvring, during which time he was for a while associated with a Whig faction led by James Stanhope, from 1720 Newcastle began to identify strongly with the Government Whigs, who had quickly come to be dominated by Sir Robert Walpole. Walpole (Robert McRoberts) gladly welcomed the young Newcastle into his coterie, firstly because he believed he could easily control him, and secondly because it would strengthen his hand against the rival Whig factions. Newcastle joined with Walpole because he, correctly, believed that he was going to dominate British politics for a generation. From 1721 Walpole began to serve as Britain's first official Prime Minister, a position he would hold for the next 21 years. He was related to Walpole's leading ally Charles Townshend, strengthening his bond with the leader of the new administration. In 1717, at the age of twenty three (appearance only), Newcastle first attained high political office as Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and was given the responsibility of overseeing theatres. Plays at the time were often extremely political, and Newcastle was tasked with suppressing any plays or playwrights believed to be too critical of the Hanoverian succession or the Whig government. During this time Newcastle clashed repeatedly with Sir Richard Steele, a leading playwright. In 1719 he was one of the three main investors in George Frideric Handel's new opera company, the Royal Academy of Music. The Duke ordered Handel in May 1719 to go to the continent and contract singers for as long as possible. He survived in the office during the turmoil in the Whig party between 1717 and 1721 and his switch of allegiance to Walpole secured his position thereafter. Walpole had overseen a brief end to the rift between the Whig factions, following the collapse of the South Sea Company, which had left thousands ruined. Newcastle himself had lost £4,000 he had invested when the South Sea Bubble was at its height. He would have lost it all if it was not for the fact that both he and Walpole shared the same banker, Robert Jacomb to whom saved both of them from complete financial disaster. Newcastle had saved himself from blame by carrying out Walpole's dirty work to secure both their positions in the new government and to ensure their reputation was not tarnished. Nevertheless, he like many others were still in debt, but Newcastle had the reputation of always paying his debts regardless of how large they may be. His credit was only damaged slightly with the aftermath of the financial collapse. He instead sought to invest what funds he had left in shares of the Honourable East India Company to which he could be expected to make a profit as long as the East India ships returned back with tangible goods from the orient. During his time in the office, Newcastle and his new English wife had become famous for throwing lavish parties, which were attended by much of London society including many of his political opponents. He was also prodigiously fond of hunting and often went down to Bishopstone, one of his Sussex properties, expressly for this purpose. During his time as Lord Chamberlain he oversaw a major overhaul of public buildings, many of which had fallen into very poor repair. It reminded him of when he was a Cæsar turning that city of brick into marble. Political life was expensive and it became obvious he needed more currency to influence the realm in his favour. He would hand over the duties of Lord Chamberlain into the care of his wife while he left to secure their future elsewhere. East India Trading Company Ending his very public lifestyle in 1720, Newcastle procured newly allocated funds from shares to buy a position in the Honourable East India Trading Company. With his ties with Walpole he was able to infiltrate and successfully befriend many directors on the court of directors while working as an over glorified secretary in the London EITC Office proving himself to be both a shrewd military tactician and an overly efficient bureaucrat. His superiors assigned him to a tour of duty starting in assessing the EITC office on Gibraltar, England's newly acquired Mediterranean headquarters. Walpole pulled strings at the Admiralty and procured the young Newcastle with a commission in the Royal Navy simultaneously with his business venture to provide him with the proper authority in the remote regions he would be visiting. In return, Newcastle would act as the Walpole's tax collector for these factories to whom would keep a portion as a form of payment for his service to the crown surveying the hundreds of East India factories that lined the coasts of Africa, India, and the rest of the orient. It had become obvious that the merchants spread across the King's domain has been evading their dues. It was up to Newcastle to refill the His Majesty's Treasury. He was given the HMS Lion or Lyon, a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy to use throughout his travels from 1720 to 1734. The ship had been captained previously by Galfridus Walpole, the youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole. Journey around Cape Horn onward to India Just as Newcastle had done during the Renaissance with Europe, he embarked upon his government sanctioned quest to levy funds from the British EITC provinces for Walpole and the crown. Weeks after his departure from Gibraltar he arrived in Calabar where he met Cutler Beckett, the young and calculating Director of West African Imports and Exports for the East India Trading Company. Beckett became a close confidant of Newcastle providing him exclusive ownership of several factories in British West Africa in exchange for political favours to better his position with the Whig party which had became the predominant governing party in Britain. Continuing this trend of good business, Newcastle would reestablish factories and modernise them in order to maximise their production whilst emptying their storehouses of goods, he would in turn sell them for profit at the next port of call on his journey and then repeat the process. Newcastle started to endow responsibilities to merchants he has hired to care for these factories that he could not oversee personally offering them positions within the East India Company to secure their own financial futures. Lord Newcastle with his new funds had commissioned seven East Indiaman that had been in the region of West Africa trading to accompany his frigate to India to ensure his safety from pirates. Storms off the coast of the Cape Colony had caused two of Newcastle's supply ships to have been separated from the rest of the fleet. Without enough food and water to reach India, Newcastle decided to board one of his faster East Indiaman and venture ahead at full sail to reach the archipelago of Comoros before the fleet to hasten their resupply. While aboard the Cassandra captained by the Scottish EITC seaman James Macrae, they encountered the fabled pirate Edward England near the Comoros on August 17, 1720. At this time the rest of the fleet was several weeks behind them. Macrae and another EITC captain named Robert Kirtby were supposed to establish a camp along the coast of Comoros and be ready to resupply the fleet with fresh provisions before their final leap onto India. Unfortunately, both Captain Kirtby and a Dutch vessel assigned to assist Macrae and Newcastle fled the scene, Macrae single-handedly engaged England. Newcastle decided to abandon his uniform and done that of a regular sailor to avoid capture and being singled out as an officer to shoot while on deck. During the naval battle which lasted over three hours, Newcastle, Macrae and his men killed about a hundred of England's pirates who numbered about 500. However, seven more hours later, they faced heavy reverses and were forced to abandon ship. This naval battle was later described by Newcastle as the "bloodiest engagement and killing of pirates along the African coast". With Newcastle's diplomatic skills, Macrae enlisted the support of the king of the island and engaged the pirates once more. But injured in his head and with a price upon him set by Edward England, Macrae was forced to escape. Ten days later, however, Macrae and Newcastle (in disguise) surrendered to England. Macrae pleaded with the pirates to spare his companions after they attempted to slit Newcastle's throat because one pirate had recalled him shooting several of his mates from the foremast during the battle. Newcastle was tortured but later ferried to a distant sandbar to be marooned without Edward England's permission. Newcastle told them he was a Duke of England and he was worth more alive. The pirates laughed at him and threw down a rusty sabre and told "His Grace" to fall on his sword as he was not worth the powder, shot or pistol. Newcastle declared to them that they would rue the day and he would return and punish them for their crimes as they departed the island. They responded with laughter. Newcastle swam several miles to reach the shore of a remote island and desperately searched through the thick jungle vegetation for a source of fresh water. He would not be reunited with Macrae until some months later. After finding a source of fresh water, Newcastle spent the next 25 days surviving, where he had made a crude shelter, and was successful in fishing, and living off the fruits of the island. Newcastle marked where he had seen a fire lit from a distant island, and crafted a raft so that journeying to the island would be less difficult. It took several days of island hopping to reach the island with the bonfire on 21 September, 1720. He was surprised and thoroughly delighted to see a frigate anchored off shore flying British colours. Macrae had instructed the fleet that had rescued him to task a ship to the area to conduct a search of the surrounding archipelago in an effort to rescue the stranded duke. The frigate had recently reached the island that Macrae was stranded just a few days prior to Newcastle's island hopping. Macrae would later tell Newcastle that after a heated debate on his own fate, the pirates finally pardoned him and left the island on September 3, 1720. Macrae would leave five days later when a passing merchant convoy was signalled to his position by a bonfire that Macrae had constructed, the very same bonfire that Newcastle had noticed and sought to reach. He had remarked to Macrae that his distress signal had been the only symbol of hope that Newcastle held onto while surviving that month, and thanked him for saving his life. Newcastle would reach Bombay the following month, on November 30, 1720. Newcastle immediately manned some ships and set sail from the harbour of Bombay against the pirates that had just marooned him. He rallied his crews with fiery speeches of rewards and plunder and certainly did not hide that he intended to risk every man's life to achieve the personal satisfaction of keeping to his word, even if he had sworn that "noble" word to the lowest scum that infested Edward England's motley crew. Inspired with shock and excitement that a duke of England had employed them to hunt down the very pirates that had coincidentally pillaged and attacked ships that many seamen had served on only seeking honest work and pay for their services, undoubtedly to have their livelihoods stolen from them by a renegade. Newcastle's presence hastened their fleet to reach the island of Comoros, but they were forced to hop island to island across the Indian Ocean due to the unforgiving currents. On Christmas Day, the 25th of December, Newcastle got lucky and found the pirates off the coast of Madagascar, lying at anchor off the same island he first encountered them still proudly striking their black flag to signal all who approached the horizon that they ruled the waves. Newcastle ordered his ships to approach single file or in a line of battle. The pirates did not react. Their sails remained furled and allowed Newcastle to surround their ships and he captured nearly all of them, after it was discovered that they were all drunk from their Christmas' Eve feast. Newcastle had the pirates chained like slaves in the cargo holds of his ships as he sought to find their captain and recover the stolen goods. The cargo that was stolen was mostly returned but Edward England was nowhere to be found. After torturing the crew captains, it was discovered that Edward England was marooned by his own men some time ago, and presumably died. Newcastle had the pirates brought to the decks of his ships, and after identifying the captains that had replaced England, it was discovered that it was one of the pirates that had marooned him previously. He declared that this would be the last Merry Christmas that they would enjoy. He had him and all others that partook in his marooning keelhauled several times, then crucified them, leaving them on the island alive facing towards the sea so that the last thing they would see would be exactly what Newcastle had saw when they marooned him those months ago, but for them they would not be given the opportunity to try to survive. As for the rest of the pirates, he ordered nooses tied to the lower yard of the fore-masts and personally shoved each pirate from the forecastle to the main deck, snapping their neck with the fall just as he promised. He butchered, shot, and hanged 150 pirates that day that he alone had deemed guilty and not by a jury of peers. Most were hanged, some were shot, many throats were slit. Sand was ordered to be spread across the decks of the ships as the blood had made them too slippery for their crews. He rewarded his crews with the cargo of the Cassandra and returned to Bombay sometime in February to carry on his original mission ordained by king and country. India: Colonial Ambitions After reaching Bombay again after his brief detour, throughout the next year Newcastle had cut down on corruption, and Walpole began to see to his delight an increase in tax revenue throughout the following years. Newcastle established new factories and set forth new regulations and reforms to ensure production would increase substantially over the next ten years, throughout the company possessions in India. The Governor of Bengal worried that Newcastle acting as an agent of the Walpole government would limit his and EITC's authority and self-administration, devised a plan to be rid of Newcastle. He "rewarded" him with a post to reinforce the East India possessions in Sumatra, to which Newcastle gratefully accepted. On 1 September 1721, Newcastle arrived at York Fort in Bencoolen in Sumatra and was subsequently appointed Governor. He built a new fort and restored order in war-ridden Sumatra, further establishing British rule over a small area and sought to increase the company's influence in the region. British Bencoolen would later be used as a staging ground for expeditions further into the South East Indies and assisted the EITC in acquiring the port of Singapore in late 1740s. In 1721, Newcastle moved his residence to the newly constructed Fort Marlborough on the west coast of Sumatra. Newcastle received word from London that he was appointed President of Madras in Febuary 1722 and took office on 8 April 1722. Immediately after his assumption of the Presidential chair, Newcastle was entrusted with the responsibility of tackling an irksome situation. The last days of Elwick's Presidency had seen some intense communal clashes between the Komatis and the Chetties. A settlement had been reached but the terms of the settlement weren't kept and the Chetties deserted the British and moved out of Madras in large numbers. When Newcastle took over as President, he was faced with the task of curbing the exodus. Accordingly, he ordered that the belongings of the deserted Chetties be confiscated. At the same time, he issued a proclamation which forbade individuals from the left-hand castes to worship in temples belonging to those of the right-hand castes and those from the right-hand castes in temples belonging to the left-hand castes. On 24 July 1722, the issue of a firman in the name of the British East India Company was celebrated with an elaborate ceremony. As per the terms of the firman, the Presidency of Madras occupied Divy Island off the coast of Masulipatnam. Meanwhile, the British once again sought the Nawab of the Carnatic demanding that he hand over the village of Tiruvottiyur under his occupation to the British as per the Imperial firman issued by the Mughal Emperor Farrukh Siyar. However, the Nawab refused to yield stating that he had no faith in the words of the President as he had not seen the provisions of the firman. However, a compromise was agreed upon and the President wrote back informing the Nawab that he intended to take over Tiruvottiyur by 23 September 1722. In return, he promised to gift the Nawab 500 pagodas and a piece of fine scarlet cloth and 200 pagodas to his son-in-law Dakha Roy. On 23 September, as per the plan, Newcastle travelled to Tiruvottiyur and took possession of the place apart from two other villages. But, on 29 September, the Nawab's representative at Poonamallee blockaded the road to Fort St George advising the British that the Nawab would not accept anything less than 1,000 pagodas in return for Tiruvottiyur. Fresh threats soon arose to the British occupation of Divy Island. Struck by financial crisis, Newcastle decided to rent five villages obtained by the firman at the rate of 1,200 per annum each for 12 years. Enraged when the demands were not met, on 18 October, Dayaram, the Head Renter of the territory who was subordinate to the Nawab of Carnatic, marched to Tiruvottiyur with an army of 250 horse and 1000 foot, removed the British flag and took possession of the village. A consultation was held according to which the members of the Board pressed the President to remove Dayaram and his troops by force. On 19 October, one of Newcastle's subordinates; Lieutenant John Roach marched into Tiruvottiyur at the head of 150 men and drove away Dayaram and his men. Dayaram's men resisted but Roach inflicted a crushing defeat upon them and pursued them in their flight to the plains surrounding Madras. A fresh body of 500 men were sent by the Nawab to attack the Company's troops from the north. But Lieutenant Roach and his men were saved by the arrival of timely reinforcements from Madras personally led by Newcastle himself. Another one of Newcastle's subordinates, Lieutenant Fullerton arrived on the scene with 100 men and the combined forces defeated Dayaram and pursued the fleeing troops up to Sattangodu. Their mission accomplished, the Company troops made a quick retreat to Fort St George. When Lieutenant Roach arrived at Madras, the Muslim inhabitants of the town rose in rebellion against the British. After a battle lasting six hours, the forces of the Carnatic and supporters of the Nawab were flushed out from the city and its environs. This was an overwhelming victory for the heavily outnumbered forces of the British East India Company against a much superior power. Lieutenant Roach who had commanded the operations to the letter that Newcastle had transcribed him during the battle in Fort St David as well as Tiruvottiyur was rewarded with increase of pay. The Nawab proposed peace to President Newcastle and accordingly, on 15 December 1723, peace was concluded between the Nawab of the Carnatic and the British East India Company. Newcastle agreed to pay 2,000 pagodas to the Nawab and 1,000 pagodas to Dakhna Roy in return for the outlying villages. Since the conclusion of peace, cordial relations existed between the Nawab of Carnatic and the British East India Company. When Dakhna Roy, the Prime Minister to the Nawab visited Madras in February 1723, he was given a grand reception and was allotted a fine house in Black Town for his stay. Newcastle would later report this to parliament and the East India in London and be recognised for his efforts abroad. On 27 May 1723, a proposal for the inauguration of two Charity schools for slaves of the English inhabitants of Madras, one in Black Town and another in White Town was approved by Newcastle. In April 1723, Lord Newcastle issued a proclamation authorising the protection of the Portuguese Roman Catholics of St. Thome marrying Protestants in Madras. On 25 May 1723, Newcastle recruited one George Foriano to translate Portuguese documents into English and vice versa making him the first translator in the Company's service at Madras. In August 1723, Newcastle issued a proclamation changing tax laws on the registration of land and slaves. In the very same month, registration of all houses and gardens in Black Town were made compulsory by another proclamation. However, when the extreme poor complained to the President regarding their inability to pay such high rates for registration, Newcastle issued an amendment by which all houses valued at less than 50 pagodas were exempted from taxation. Newcastle founded a new colony for weavers and painters of cloth near Tiruvottiyur. This village was called Pelham-pettah in his honour. According to a report submitted by Newcastle to the Directors on 28 September 1723, the hamlet had a population of 489 inhabiting 105 houses. On 9 July 1724, the Honorable Court of Directors voted to reduce the garrison at Fort St George to 360 and the garrison at Fort St David to 340. On 20 July 1724, Lord Newcastle proposed to resign and carry out a diplomatic mission to China expressing his inability to bear the harsh clime of the city during the previous month. He proposed the name of James Macrae as successor. The Court grumbly accepted his request. Accordingly, Newcastle resigned and almost immediately set out for China. He was replaced with James Macrae, to whom had saved Newcastle from death during their run in with pirates years earlier. China: Journey to the Forbidden City The delegation departed Calcutta aboard three ships on 12 September 1724. Newcastle's flagship, the HMS Lion, led the mission's squadron and later small fleet. The HMS Behemoth, and HMS San Juan were two heavy merchant galleons built in preparation of this mission months earlier by Portuguese shipwrights in Goa. The EITC Peacock, belonging to the East India Company (and later purchased by the Royal Navy as HMS Peacock), was commanded by Benedict Huntington, the manager of the Company's Hong Kong branch. These four vessels were accompanied by a sloop, the EITC Bloodhound. Lord Newcastle spent the voyage studying Chinese, and Japanese with the mission's interpreters, and learning Chinese, Korean, and Japanese customs. Lord Newcastle had only proposed a mission to China, but he planned to fund two separate missions in conjunction out of his own purse to surprise his superiors in the company's quarterly report for the following year of 1725, but it would not be until 1727 until the report finally reached London which caused much dismay to Newcastle as he liked to be punctual in his reports. They passed Singapore in December, but were harassed by Singaporean pirate junks. Years earlier, Benedict Huntington had killed the previous Pirate Lord of Singapore, Liang Dao, to whom was replaced by his brother, Sao Feng. Several skirmishes ensued to which resulted in the EITC Bloodhound taking heavy damage, while the HMS Lion, HMS Behemoth, HMS San Juan, and MS Peacock suffered minimal damage that was repaired while in anchor in Hong Kong. The trio of ships managed to capture eight pirate junks and their crews without much quarrel. The pirate crews were mercifully released along the Malayan coast, and sailed under a skeleton crew until reaching Hong Kong, and Dutch Formosa where they the majority of the crews were refilled. These ships were later used to transport the treasures and goods the mission would acquire throughout the Orient. The full squadron sailed on to Macau, where they arrived on 10 March 1725. There, Benedict Huntington disembarked from the mission, while lending the HMS Peacock to Newcastle and the embassy as his task was only to escort the mission from Bengal to his administrative company seat in Hong Kong. Lord Newcastle continued inland with a caravan from Hong Kong through the Fujian Province (福建省) purchasing tea plants and sampling what the region had to offer, and making generous donations to the local settlements until reaching the province capital of Fuzhou (福州市) where the small fleet of ships from Hong Kong had been docked in continue the journey. The embassy departed Fuzhou (福州市) on 20 May. The fleet stopped along the coasts of the Zhejiang (浙江省), where Newcastle went ashore to meet with the military governors and later the regional governor or formally known as the Viceroy of Min-Zhe, Gao Qizhuo (高其倬), the embassy was then denied entry into Shanghai (上海市) due to the large pirate presence there, but was received warmly along the coasts of Jiangsu (江苏省), and Shandong (山东省) before finally arriving in Tianjin (天津市), the closest major port to Beijing (北京市). The emperor had sent instructions to every port in China to provide guides to the British visitors. However, Chinese officials had not anticipated that the British intended to sail the high seas rather than hopping from port to port in shallow waters along the coast, as was typical of Chinese vessels. They expressed surprise at the size and speed of the British ships. Anticipating that these vessels with their deep hulls would not be able to proceed upstream past Tianjin (天津市), they hired boats to carry the mission and the specific cargo of gifts meant for the emperor to the capital, while leaving the rest of the fleet anchored in Bohai Bay, Tianjin (天津市). On 1 July, Newcastle met with Li Fu (李紱), Viceroy of Zhili, who travelled from the province capital to meet with the British embassy, and informed Newcastle that the meeting with the emperor would take place in the capital (Beijing), just as the British delegation expected. The imperial court had advised Li not to accompany Newcastle to the capital, so as to avoid giving the British too high a sense of their own status. According to the Qianlong (Jim Logan), "treated too favourably, a Barbarian becomes arrogant. We must not allow them to feel as if they are superior to our greatness. They must be humbled before they enter my presence". Instead of the viceroy, an Imperial Legate, Ching Dong would act as the mission's liaison. The embassy finally reached the imperial capital of Beijing on 15 July. At the city gates, a military guard of honour escorted to the guest quarters of the Forbidden City, and the British were not permitted to leave the premises for the duration of their stay. The gifts brought by the embassy were stored amongst other tribute items in the throne room of the Imperial palace, to which Newcastle was the first Briton to ever witness remarking, "The architecture and design was incredibly detailed and ornate yet simplistic in nature." On July 20, legate Ching Dong brought a letter to Newcastle from a large British fleet sent from London who reported that the gifts and supplies intended for the next part of his mission had reached Dalian (大连市) as ordered. Newcastle replied with instructions for the fleet to rendezvous with his own ships to await the completion of the embassy's business in China before setting sail across the East China Sea to take part in the British mission to Japan before returning to England. Even before Newcastle departure from Britain, he and Walpole anticipated that there might be some disagreement with the Chinese side on the details of the ceremonies and rituals to be performed at the meeting between Newcastle and the emperor of China. Ching Dong urged Newcastle and his companions to perform the kowtow during his audience with the emperor. Walpole had instructed Newcastle to accept "all ceremonials of the Court which may not commit the honour of your Sovereign or lessen your own dignity", and not to let any "trifling punctilio" get in the way of the mission. And so, upon meeting the Qianlong Emperor, he would acquiesce to the ritual of the kowtow, which requires an individual to kneel with both knees on the ground and bow so as to touch their forehead to the ground. This form of greeting was required not only when meeting the Chinese Emperor, but also when receiving imperial edicts from his messages and envoys. One such companion of Newcastle's entourage known as John Warsmythe protested to the ritual to who regarded the form of greeting to be slavish, humiliating, and unjust to that befitting a diplomat of George I, however Newcastle was a man known to follow his orders to the letter and without hesitation. For Warsmythe, the largest topic of disagreement was concerning the relative status of the two sovereigns, George I and Qianlong. Warsmythe believed that Great Britain was now the most powerful nation on Earth, with the Royal Navy being unmatched and unrivalled to the rest of the world, and demanded that the two sovereigns would be treated as equals. Ching Dong laughed profusely upon hearing this statement and stated that the very notion of reciprocal equality was incompatible with the Chinese view of the emperor as the Son of Heaven, who had no equal, and was unrivalled. Newcastle had to apologise on behalf of Warmsythe for speaking out of turn in this regard. According to such a view, the British embassy was regarded officially as a tribute mission like any other. Despite Newcastle's and Warsmythe's insistence that the items the embassy brought were "gifts", Chinese officials saw them as "tribute" items, and continued to treat the British as a barbarian and savage race of foreigners. The meeting with the Qianlong Emperor took place on August 1. The British awoke before dawn and prepared to be received by the emperor. The emperor arrived at 7, who sat upon the Dragon Throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Newcastle passed through the Gate of Supreme Harmony along with John Warsmythe, three other British civil servants and their Chinese interpreter. The others were waited outside the Gate of the inner palace. Newcastle stepped up to the platform first, and bowed in the customary European manner, which at first shocked many courtiers, but Newcastle immediately followed the long bow by performing the customary kowtow without hesitation, which shocked his British companions to who stood frozen briefly before Newcastle utterly a short cough with his head pressed against the floor. His companions performed the kowtow soon after which pleased the Emperor, afterwards rising to exchange gifts with Qianlong and presenting King George I's letter. The Chinese interpreter stepped forward and translated the vast majority of the meeting's dialogue between the British and the Emperor, but towards the end, Newcastle spoke fluent Chinese, which shocked the court and delighted the Emperor. The British were followed by other envoys, about whom little is written. A banquet was then held to conclude the day's events. The British were seated on the emperor's left, in the most prestigious position. Two month passed since the initial meeting, and the British embassy concluded its efforts in China, departing Dalian (大连市) on 10 October, 1725. The outcome was very little, and Newcastle as well as his superiors considered the mission to China to have been a complete failure solely on the basis that the Chinese considered the British to be inferior and possessing no products of trade that the Chinese considered to be of value stating that they already possessed all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its borders. Qianlong's letter to King George I referred to him as an inferior and lesser monarch, and was described as incredibly insulting and threatening to say the very least. Qianlong's letter's continuing reference to all Europeans as "barbarians", his assumption of all nations of the earth as being subordinate to China, and his final words commanding King George I to "...Tremblingly obey and show no negligence!" used the standard imperial sign off as if the king were a Chinese subject. The British would never forget this insult, and Newcastle was criticised for some time for lowering himself and dishonouring his nation and his king all in order to gain Chinese favour and a favourable outcome for his nation in terms of trade. Later in his life, Newcastle's government instructed the East India Company to smuggle and flood opium and other addictive substances such as tobacco in exchange for Chinese luxury goods such as porcelain, silk, and tea, which were in great demand in the West to reverse the trade deficit that the European powers had accumulated for several hundred years with China. Japan: Sakoku (鎖国) The British embassy departed the Chinese port of Dalian (大连市) on 10 October, 1725, and rendezvoused with a large British fleet sent from London. The EITC Peacock was ordered back to Hong Kong as it was a ship on lease to the mission from the East India Trading Company. The HMS Behemoth, and HMS San Juan were ordered to return to London with the gifts and goods procured while in China. The HMS Lion joined the fleet after transferring her cargo holds to the ships ordered back to England. The new fleet comprised of two lightly armed trade galleons: HMS Grosvenor, HMS Expedition, as well as four East Indiamen: Intrepid, Sunderland, Active, Alexander, carried full cargoes of gifts including firearms, chocolate, coffee, "expensive" gifts such as astrolabes, pairs of glasses, telescopes, globes, medical instruments, medical books, and a few exotic animals and tropical birds, chests full of silver and other precious materials, ivory, silk, cotton, sugar, fur pelts, teas from India and Africa, as well as a collection of western books; where Robert Walpole's Southern Secretary had dictated the gifts that were to be sent to the Chinese emperor, Newcastle had personally detailed and purchased many of the gifts and goods that were to be presented to the Japanese emperor in Kyoto (京都) not to mention separate gifts to the all powerful Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (江戸) using his own purse. The failure that was the diplomatic mission to the Qing Empire would not be repeated again, as Newcastle had quarrelled with the ambassadors and the Southern Secretary concerning what gifts were appropriate, and which would be the most well received by the foreign courts. In late November 1725, HMS Lion split off from the main fleet and entered Nagasaki's harbour. The rest of the feet under the command of John Warsmythe were to travel to the edge of the forbidden waters of Miura 三浦市. To the Japanese, the Dutch settlement was their window to the exotic world of the West, but the trickle of information that arrived from overseas was carefully guarded. The Dutch were permitted to send no more than 2 trade ships to Nagaski every year. Every time a Dutch ship arrived, the Dutch ship would have the latest news from Europe and that news would be given to the Dutch authorities in Nagasaki and then that news would be translated into Japanese and rushed immediately to the headquarters of the shogun. The ruler of Japan, the shogun, hungered for news of the outside world. He commanded the Westerners to present themselves at his castle once a year. HMS Lion entered the harbour on 30 November surreptitiously under a Dutch flag. Despite the arrival of this "Dutch" ship being later in the season than normal, the Japanese and Dutch representatives did not suspect anything. So, the Dutch representatives, from their Nagasaki trading enclave of Dejima rowed out to welcome the visiting ship. The Dutch representatives boarded the ship and were taken into the captain's cabin to meet with Newcastle, while their Japanese escorts were not permitted to board the frigate. Newcastle revealed himself to not be Dutch, but a Scotsman, and presented an edict signed by William, Prince of Orange (Edward Daggerhawk) who had granted the British to send an embassy citing questionable excuses of advantageous benefits if the embassy were to success. In reality, the Prince of Orange was an agent of the EITC and took advantage of the Second Stadtholderless period to interject British influence into the Netherlands to weaken the Dutch East India Company's hold on global trade. Newcastle humbly apologised to the Dutch representatives for the deceitful arrival and ensured that they would be compensated for the inconveniences, but ordered that they would have to remain aboard the HMS Lion until the British embassy was allowed safe passage to Edo. These Dutch representatives were later found dead after consuming poorly-prepared fugu fish. It is recorded that the cannons in the Japanese harbour defences were old and most could not even fire. Consequently, the meagre Japanese forces in Nagasaki were seriously out-gunned and would be unable to intervene by sea, but if the Dutch were permitted to return to Dejima too early and had any of the slightest doubt of the legitimacy or intentions of the Prince of Orange's letter and alerted the Japanese authorities, the entire mission would have been most captured and executed en route to Edo. Nagaski was only garrisoned by some 200 troops, instead of the 1,000 officially required for the station, so bypassing the defences posing as the yearly Dutch embassy to Edo would be less difficult because the Japanese had economised their defences. The ruler of Japan, the shogun, hungered for news of the outside world. He commanded the Westerners to present themselves at his castle once a year. The only time Newcastle really saw Japan was when he travelled from Nagasaki to Edo which was the shogun's capital. The road trip to Edo gave Newcastle revealing glimpses into the world of the Japanese, which seemed to more secretive than Qing Dynasty China. He recorded every detail of his month-long trip. "We received many of the honours that are generally shown to the provincial lords. The roads are swept with brooms and water to keep the dust down.In the houses bordering the road, people kneel behind the blinds, watching our procession in profound silence. An incredible number of people daily use the highways of Japan's provinces. Indeed, at certain times of the year, they are as crowded as the streets of a populous European city. The reason for these crowds is partly that the Japanese travel more often than other people." Newcastle would write about all of the travellers; samurai and their lords, called 'daimyo', merchants and roadside performers, Buddhist monks, and a group of young women who dressed like nuns. "They cover their shorn heads with silk hoods and adorn themselves nicely Each attaches herself to one particular traveller starts up a rustic tune and, as long as it's to her advantage, she accompanies and amuses him for several hours As the road traffic grew, so did the number of merchants who catered to the travellers' needs. We saw many fine stalls, many those of merchants and cloth dealers medicine dealers, traders in idols, booksellers, glassblowers, pharmacists and people crying out their wares. There are countless humble inns, roadside food stalls, sake or beer taverns, cake and sweet stalls along our road. Outside tables also have a variety of biscuits of different colours and shapes on display. They are pretty to look at but are generally so tough that it is difficult to move one's teeth if one attempts to chew them. According to a retainer of the Shogun, Tradesmen, were once considered social parasites had begun to improve their position in Japanese society. Successful street peddlers became roadside merchants who would eventually build bigger stores and even move to the cities. The samurai weren't allowed to engage in trade, so the merchants' standard of living was rising while that of the samurai was falling. And that was just not appropriate for Tokugawa society, where the samurai were the top class. The samurai were the elite ruling class, less than 10% of the population. In Tokugawa Japan,one was born a samurai and only a samurai had the right to carry two swords. Obligation and loyalty to one's daimyo master formed the basis of their warrior code. But now, in an era of peace, the once-privileged samurai faced an uncertain future. There were no wars to fight and many daimyo found it difficult to keep a full army on staff. While higher-level samurai could find work as civil servants, other samurai were not allowed to work in occupations considered beneath their class. An increasing number of unemployed samurai, called 'ronin', wandered the countryside, looking for a new master. The search for new opportunities led many to the cities during the last century up to present. The search for new opportunities led many to the cities. And there was no more rapidly growing city than Edo, the capital of the Tokugawa shogunate, and Newcastle's destination. Here he would finally come face-to-face with the shogun, the most powerful person in Japan. Upon entering Edo on 10 December, 1725; it was recorded by the mission that it seemed as if the city was still recovering from a recent disaster, as some buildings were burnt to a crisp, and the city walls had collapsed as a result of of cannon fire. Both the Imperial Seal of the Yamato Dynasty as well as the Tokugawa Shogunate's emblem hanged from banners upon the towering Edo Castle. Newcastle and his mission was sequestered in guarded quarters for a three days before being summoned before eighth shōgun, Tokugawa Yoshimune. "The shogun's residence is spacious with many long corridors and large rooms which can be closed off by sliding partitions. According to the finest design of Japanese traditions, the ceilings, beams and pillars, patterned by nature, covered with lacquer or carved and gilded artistically into patterns of birds and foliage" At this audience, the shogun sat behind a bamboo screen. And he asked Newcastle to come close to the bamboo screen, and to take his wig off. Both the shogun and Newcastle were able to communicate freely in Latin. Newcastle never inquired how the shogun knew such an ancient European language, especially one associated with Christianity, an outlawed religion within Japan, but used this opportunity to tell the truth that he impersonated the Dutch mission in order to gain an audience with him. The shogun was interested in Britain as it too was an island nation much like Japan. The shogun remarked that the gifts that Newcastle had brought differed greatly from what the Dutch would always provide. Of the gifts, the English flintlock muskets is what truly garnered the attention of the shogun. Newcastle concluded the first of many series of trade agreements with the Japanese, which directly pushed the Dutch out of their monopoly on their trade with the island nation. Newcastle requested to visit the Japanese emperor on his way back from Edo to Nagasaki to pay homage and present him with gifts to show his country's appreciation for trade. Newcastle never gazed upon the shogun during this visit to Edo, as the entire audience and conversation with the Latin-speaking shogun had taken place behind the bamboo screen. The British mission then detoured south towards Miura 三浦市. The British mission under the cover of darkness rendezvoused with Warsmythe and the fleet to avoid alerting the local authorities. The fleet travelled along the coast of Japan out of sight towards Ise Bay 伊勢湾, before departing back on land once again under cover of darkness. By 15 January, 1726, the mission had hastily made it's way to Kyoto, the Imperial capital of Japan, and was sequestered in guarded quarters for a three days just as was done in Edo before being summoned. Only Newcastle was permitted an audience with the Emperor under the condition he would dress in traditional Japanese fashion. Newcastle was led by servants to the Kyoto imperial gardens before a wooden building used for tea ceremonies. Newcastle crawled inside the tea room, and was before him was a European much like himself dressed in Japanese clothing. This European greeted him in Latin. They exchanged gifts, and Newcastle demanded to know why both the shogun and the emperor of this far away land spoke fluent Latin. It was discovered that the emperor was in fact the shogun that he had met with just one month prior. This shogun-emperor was a European in disguise. A Spanish prince sold into slavery to the Japanese Emperor who had adopted him as a son and crown prince, upon ascending the imperial throne, he rose up in revolt against the shogunate and stormed Edo, killing off all the males of the Tokugawa clan, while marrying their daughters to himself to unite the Tokugawa and Yamato houses. The two bonded greatly as they exchanged stories of their pasts in Europe, and over the next 3 months, the emperor-shogun spent every day with Newcastle. The two bonded over tea ceremonies, horse riding, hunting, fishing, and all the activities that the Japanese imperial court could offer. 25 April, 1726, Newcastle bid his new friend farewell, as the shogun-emperor had travelled to the coast of Edo and in an elaborate ceremony saw him off. Chests of Japanese goods were loaded aboard the British fleet that amazed the Japanese court and people, as they had never seen such large ships before. From Edo, the British fleet sailed east to circumnavigate the globe and head towards the islands of Polynesia before reaching the west coast of New Spain. Styles of address *1693–1706: Mr Thomas Pelham *1706–1712: The Hon Thomas Pelham *1712–1714: The Rt Hon The Lord Pelham of Laughton *1714–1715: The Rt Hon The Earl of Clare *1715–1717: His Grace The Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne FRS *1717–1718: His Grace The Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne KT PC FRS *1718–1745: His Grace The Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne KG PC FRS *1745–Present: His Grace The Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne KG KB PC FRS Curse of the Red Flower At one point of Johnny’s life he enjoyed playing poker with his military friends. He always won fair and square unless the one who wasn’t playing fair then Johnny always made it so that it was fair even if it meant cheating himself! He was a regular in the tavern Rat’s cellar on Padres Del Fuego. But once night he was facing an old Chinese woman that looked like a gypsy or Sir Johnathan Goldtimbers Drawing someone that practised dark magic. When she sat down and spoke in Chinese no one could understand her expect for the dealer and Johnny. Johnny kindly responded back in a friendly Chinese greeting. Hours past and when Johnny noticed she was changing cards and around and cheating so he started to cheat as well. The pot was over ten thousand pounds and tension started to grow between Johnny and the old Chinese lady. But then she said in Chinese “you my friend have lost not just your gold but your reputation has a poker player” has she laughed menacingly. But when it was time to show our cards she had four of a kind while Johnny showed his cards. The old woman was laughing hard but when she sees Johnny had a Straight flush, her laughing turned to hate and she quickly threw the table with the cards at Johnny and killed the dealer with her throwing knifes. When Johnny quickly Grand Admiral Johnathan Goldtimbers of the EITC Navy pushed the table aside the old lady threw a single dagger at Johnny’s left arm. Johnny quickly grabbed a throwing knife from the table that the old woman had missed fired and threw it at her back. She screeched in pain as Johnny came closer to her. She quickly spoke something in a strange language Johnny didn't know. When Johnny drew his pistol at her and shot her in the head, she laid quiet and dead. Johnny quickly pulled the fine crafted engraved Chinese knife from his shoulder and tended to his wound. Johnny didn’t know that the old woman had cursed him but he didn't let her finish the curse she spoke. Luckily for Johnny the curse would let him do what he can do now but he was cursed to roam this Earth for eternity. If she had finished the Curse Johnny would have grew older and older by every day until he was nothing but dust. The Raid.... When Leon and Grace where small a raid occurred when pirates looted Padres Del Fuego. Johnny went out with the rest of his men to fend off the invaders while Sarah stayed and protected the children. Johnny fought his way through Los Padres and slaughtered the pirates. When Johnny heard of the pirates that reached the Mansion Johnny had just defeated a large group of pirates in the Jungle called El Sudoron. Johnny paused then ran for the mansion getting shot and struck with weak blows from pirate who he cut down who were in his path. The British Soldiers yelled “It’s the Governor! CHARGE”! Johnny and his men charged through the caves back near his Mansion were a large group of pirates were looting all of Johnny’s valuables. Johnny paid little attention to them as they ran like cowards with their loot. Just then Johnny ran inside the wooden Mansion and searched room by room for his Family while doing this Johnny chopped every pirate, bandit, and thief inside. Johnny saw his wife alone without their children sword battling a clean looking pirate that knocked her to the ground and smiled at Johnny. He pulled out a grenade and threw at a bunch of barrels of Gunpowder the pirates had left in the mansion. “Oh Bloody Hell” Johnny ran towards Sarah who was across the room when the house exploded! He was terribly burned and injured but Johnny got up and saw the pirate who threw the grenade dragging a treasure chest. Johnny had a two choices, either kill the pirate that blew up his mansion or see if his wife and children where ok. Johnny ordered his men to drive back the invaders while he and two Royal Marines searched through the rubble. But another grenade from the same pirate blew near Johnny that threw shrapnel into his legs and back. He ignored the pain and only found Sarah. Sarah told him that the children were in the Fort because she ordered her First Maiden to secretly go. Johnny held Sarah in her arms and he knew there was nothing he can do. Sarah’s last words where “take good care of the children my love, never let go….. The mission always comes first……… I…….lo..ve…..I…..I….. Love….. You...”. Then Sarah smiled and passed. Johnny let out a scream that could be heard throughout the island and cried. After the Raid and the battle won Johnny buried Sarah in the Catacombs at the Family grave. Many people came to see the Funeral including the enemies of Johnny, the French. A week later Johnny travelled to France with his new French friends who attended the Funeral. Johnny was ill with a infection from the wounds he did not tend to earlier. He rode his horse through the French Capitol, Paris and fell at the door of Queen Marie Antoinette. With the Queen have lost her husband Louis she took care of Grace while Johnny healed. When Johnny wrote Marie a letter that to take good care of Grace and that he is forever in her dept and after he left the letter on her desk. Ignoring the French doctors he limped onto a horse and rode to the Docks and left aboard the HMS Conqueror for England. Service of Lord Beckett When Johnny Newly Promoted to Admiral in The EITC And Royal Navy of Great Britain arrived in England he was still heartbroken but Lord Beckett has summoned him. Johnny's old friend and employer told him of a plot against the newly appointed Lord Samuel Redbeard of the EITC Operations in the Caribbean Lord Beckett send Johnny to work for Samuel and also spy on the creator of the plot against Redbeard and the EITC. When Johnny first met Redbeard his power was strong and he knew has well did Beckett he had potential. After finding out that Captain Leon his own son was the creator of this plot Johnny used his family ties with him to befriend him and make it seem like he had al of the Fleet and Second in command of Leon's Army Peace was restored. Painstakingly Johnny ended his battles, Wars, and conflicts that his son started for a new Beginning. When the EITC Elections were held and Leon presumed dead Johnny would of became the next Lord Marshall of the EITC due to popular vote Johnny Unfortunately gave up his chance of leadership to Redbeard for strange reasons that no one knows why. Johnny was Promoted to the Grand Admiral of the EITC Armada and Supreme Lord ( Second in Command ) of the EITC. Johnny just didn't want all the power The King or Lord Beckett could give him. He said he would preserve the Peace and Order of the Company along with enforcing the laws set down by the King of England. You only Live Twice There has been a plot that has left Johnny speechless and angry. This plot that was devised by a mysterious man only known has Capt. Greg to make everyone believe that Johnny Goldtimbers was dead. He started his plan off by sending Johnny a forged Letter that was supposed to be signed by the King of England and Ireland, knowing that Johnny was a loyal to the King a letter from him would not be questioned. Capt. Greg had also sent a similar letter to the Captain. Dear Uncle Goldtimbers, Due to your extensive work with the East India Trading Company and with the British Royal Navy I have been noticing you have been quite tired and have been eating paper again. This has left me no choice but to suspend and strip you from your Rank and power unless you take some time off. I shall provide a Ship docked at Port Royal. You must be at the docks at 8:00Am Sharp. You shall travel from Europe to Asia and back. You will also be visiting Bora Bora, I think your going to enjoy that location a lot. And Stop eating paper man! I don't care if it has a lot of Fiber you take medicine every day that gives you more then enough fibre! Take care and I wish you a Good Trip. Sincerely, King George II of England and Ireland When he read this letter he immediately dropped what he was doing and went on this tour. Not knowing Capt. Greg was going to set up a ship and a Johnny impersonator to fake his own death and cause lies and corruption throughout the Caribbean and most of the world. While Johnny was being sent not on a vacation but a nightmare. Joplete. Capt. Greg then started a Estate Sale of Johnny's belongings. When the Estate sale closed for some strange reason and the gold earned from the Sale that was suppose to go to the Heir from the Will and to Charity disappeared many thought something Fishy was going on. Capt. Greg had heard about Johnny returning earlier then expected from his yacht buyers and the Belongings returned to the man who said he rather die while he's living rather live while he's dead, which he lived while he himself was presumed dead, Johnny Goldtimbers! I guess he only lives Twice. Captured by Spain!?! It was a stormy night at Padres Del Fuego; a British controlled Island, on top of the Fortress Fort Dundee two British soldiers were standing alert for any enemy ships that would enter the Volcanic islands harbour. In the mist of night a fleet of Spanish Navel Ships came into the port undetected from the British from the opposite port Las Pulgas. When the Spanish began their attack on the island British Forces that had just have gotten done of killing off the remaining Undead. The British and the Spanish Clashed into a massive Battle that took place in the jungle of El Sudoron . While the British where occupied with protecting the City from the Rear a lone man came onto the once Spanish Soil of Padres and made his way through the town of Los Padres. Meanwhile at the mansion of the Island’s Governor atop of one of the Volcanic Island’s cliffs the Governor was at home in his night gown sipping a nice warm cup of Jasmine tea when two squadrons of both British Navy and EITC soldiers banged at the Door of the Governor’s Bedroom door. He replied to the Banging “Come in”, as the Door opened a Loyal EITC Officer named John Warsmythe came in and said Supreme Lord, We must get you to your shelter immediately before…. The Governor interrupted him and declared “But the Battle of so Far off!” John said to reply back Please Johnny old pal, we must follow security Protocol. Johnny Goldtimbers stood up and said “I will not cower in the face of this Treacherous Attack against my Island!” Then out of nowhere a noise appeared on the hoof of the Mansion. Johnny and the rest of the men there looked up at the roof when Johnny said “What is that sound?” As is got closer it stopped. Johnny then said “Hmmm see it was nothing”. Then a tall dark figure crashed through the Glass of Mansion’s Largest Stained Glass window knocking over the old man and his chair and table. The Figure was a tall The nightgown Governor Goldtimbers wore during the attack. robust man that looked to be a Spanish Agent. Johnny stood up and said angrily at the Spaniard “How dare you barge into my Private Residence and Spill my Cup of Tea! Who do you think you are?” John said frightened “Sir! I don’t think you should…. He was again interrupted by Governor Goldtimbers “No no I’ll take care of this” as he motioned his hand to make him stop. Johnny then faced the Spanish man and said “I am his Majesty’s duly appointed Governor and Lord Johnathan Goldtimbers of the British Empire and the EITC, and I will not be bullied by any Thug that happens to mess with me and… Johnny was then pulled away by two Navy soldiers and dragged Johnny out of the room when John said “Take him down!”, As John, the Governor and six other guards dragged Johnny down the Stairs the remaining of the group of soldiers were aiming their muskets at the Spaniard, the man pulled out twin repeater pistols and shot down the soldiers and pulled out duel Spanish cutlasses and killed off the rest of the soldiers left behind before charging for the Governor. A soldier tosses seven grenades destroying the large Staircase to slow down the Spaniard while Johnny looked at in shock. The Spanish man jumped from the window and landed in the middle of a large crowd of Spanish soldiers just as the Governor and the men made their way out the front door. As they aimed their Bayonets at the group, Cannons fired and blew out a large portion of the Spanish soldiers. Looking to the sea they saw a British Ship of the Line the HMS Victory that had just have destroyed the rest of the invading ships in the eastern side of the island. Two soldiers dragged the Governor into a Horse drawn carriage and John, the Governor and four other men were left. When they got to Beckett’s Quarry they rushed in and to see that eight elite Spanish royal guards were there. John ordered the two guards to get the Governor somewhere safe. The Guards moved the Governor out of the way while John and two others battled their way to Victory. But then as they moved inside deeper in the cave The Spaniard ambushed them. The Spaniard killed the two guards while Goldtimbers watched from a distance. The Spaniard came closer to the Governor and declared “your mine! Old man!” and hoisted him up by his collar. Johnny replied so calmly “You wouldn't dare harm a High ranking Lord of the EITC! Whatever would your leaders think?” He replied so angrily “Your lucky they want you alive Foolish old man!”,As two Spanish Royal guards dragged Johnny aboard their Ship John came out and started shooting at the ship with more British Soldiers and shot the Spaniard in the Leg but he managed to escape with his prize, the Governor. Johnny was then tossed in Jail and held Prisoner until the Spanish King Clemete offered him as Head of the Spanish Navy, without any choice at all he took the rank. Soon after Johnny escaped Spanish forces and joined the EITC and England once again. Johnny's Titles *Lord in the British Parliament *Honoured Member of the King's High Court of England *Inventor *Vice-Leader of the Black Guard *Master-swordsman/ Blacksmith *Owner of the Royale Le Roi: Vacation and Yacht Club *Assassin *Master Cartographer *Musician *Survivalist *Veteran of Wars *Former Famed Conquistador *Master Craftsman/Jeweller *Interpreter *Master Painter *Philosopher *Enforcer of the Law *Archbishop of Naples *Count of Berlin *Don *Member of the Tea Team *Master of most Martial Arts *Representative for His Majesty the King |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- Category:British Category:EITC Category:Royal Navy Category:MP